Description: One of the most celebrated motion pictures ever
to explore the art of music Tous les Matins du Monde
tells a provocative tale of romance, lust, desire and
intrigue. Based on the lives of 17th century French composer
Sainte Colombe and his protagonist Marin Marais the film
stars Academy Award-nominee Gerard Depardieu (Best Actor -
Cyrano de Bergerac) and includes a classical
soundtrack per formed by Jordi Savall which brought renewed
interest to the music of this period.

The Film:

Jazzman-turned-director Alain Corneau brings his extensive musical savvy
to All the Mornings of the World. Jean-Pierre Marielle stars as
legendary 17th-century baroque composer and cellist M. de Saint Colombe.
Believing the only "true" music is that which is written down, Sainte
Colombe is vehemently opposed to performing in public. This stance is
challenged by the composer's protégé, Marin Marais (Gerard Depardieu), a
man of more commercial sensibilities. Leisurely and luxurious, All
the Mornings of the World deservedly swept France's Cesar Awards
(the Gallic equivalent of the Oscars). Watch for Gerard Depardieu's
real-life son Guillaume Depardieu as the younger Marin Marais. All
the Mornings is better known by its original French title, Tous
les Matins du Monde.

For all his success as court composer at Versailles, the aged Marin
Marais (Gérard Depardieu) acknowledges the spiritual emptiness of his
music. Lost in memories, he recalls another master of the viola da gamba,
Monsieur de Sainte Colombe (Marielle), whose magnificent, melancholy
compositions and hermetic life style, away from the tempting glamours of
Paris, were inspired by undying love for his late wife. Not a warm man,
Sainte Colombe had consented to tutor Marin Marais in his prodigious
youth (Guillaume Depardieu), a favour which the pupil repaid by seducing
one of Sainte Colombe's daughters (Brochet). Only years later had he
taken to heart the real lesson his master had to offer... From its
lengthy, opening close-up of Depardieu's face, it's clear that Corneau's
17th century fable will be no ordinary costume drama. The story is slow,
stately, and told with minimal dialogue, with Corneau trusting to Yves
Angelo's painterly camerawork - and even more importantly, to the lovely
baroque music - to give his admirably restrained tale of passion,
betrayal and creativity its emotional power. The cast, too, play
beautifully.

Image : NOTE:The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.

Tour
les Matins du Mondeis a beautiful, and
award-wining, period film that has arrived
on
Blu-ray
from E-One Entertainment. The transfer is impressive
producing a crisp, film-like image in 1080P. This
is dual-layered for the nearly 2-hour film and the bitrate
supports the video extremely well. Daylight scenes produce
depth and there are quite a few very dark scenes that seem
to have shunned artificial lighting in keeping with the 17th
Century period. I saw no untoward noise. This
Blu-ray
is very clean and consistent with strong contrast and muted
colors. Flesh tones appear accurate and there is a fine
layer of grain in the 1.66:1, original, aspect ratio frame.
All good on the visual-front.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio :

Audio comes
with two options - a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround at 1869 kbps and a
simple Dolby 2.0 channel - both in original French. The audio quality is
most noticeable in the film's music - a score by Jordi Savall and music
compositions by, of course, Marin Marais and Sainte-Colombe. It sounds
as good as the video looks and is quite impressive with the viol (viola
da gamba), and other instruments, sounding exquisitely authentic
supporting both the high-end and bass depth of the strings. There are
optional English subtitles and m

E-One include
some supplements (in French with English subtitles). We get a 10-minute,
standard, Making of... featurette and almost 55-minutes of
interviews with the filmmakers, predominantly director Alain Corneau but
also Jean-Pierre Marielle and others. There is a lot to discuss about
the details of the production. There is also a trailer and the package
contains a 6-page liner notes leaflet with photos and an essay by Robert
Horton.

BOTTOM LINE: What a beautiful, and sad, film about withdrawal, loneliness,
obsession, acceptance... Tour les Matins du Monde
expresses so much and the keen performances add to the
cinematic value. It's quite brilliant - a near
masterpiece. Some may not embrace the deliberate pacing but
I thoroughly enjoyed the film and the 1080P presentation,
and lossless audio, makes this a strong
Blu-ray recommendation!

Gary Tooze

November 18th, 2013

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500
DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction.